It is often desirable to provide for the rapid and efficient deburring, burnishing, cleaning, polishing, abrasion or otherwise treating the exterior and/or interior ends of a pipe or pipe-like material, for example, copper pipe used in plumbing systems in preparation for soldering or otherwise joining adjacent pipes. A number of polishing devices have been proposed for polishing or otherwise treating the interior and exterior surfaces of pipes or conduits. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,045,517, issued June 23, 1936, describes a polishing device for poles or pipes comprising a split clamping member connected for opening and closing movements through the use of trunnions and coiled expansion springs and which employs a polishing cloth about the pipe to be polished and embraced by the clamping jaws In the closed position so that the pipe may be polished.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,225,272, issued Dec. 17, 1940, concerns a device for the removal of burs and roughness at the end of a tube, such as a copper tube, through the employment of a steel cone having an abrasive surface mounted centrally of a plate having a shaft which is adapted to rotation by a drill.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,303,824 discloses a hose resizing tool device which employs an inside convex wire brush and an outside concave wire brush power driven to scrap the inside and the outside of the hose.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,188,674, issued June 15, 1965, also concerns a rotary tube end cleaning device which involves the use of a wire brush for rotation by an electrical drill operating device to effect cleaning of the exterior surface of the tube.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,728, issued Jan. 27, 1981, discloses a conduit end treating tool having a carrier provided with an adhesive-type substance, the carrier axially slotted to enable the carrier to expand and contract radially to cause the abrading material to engage the conduit to be abraded so that the inside or the outside of the conduit may be polished.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,829, issued Sept. 4, 1984, concerns a deburring tool for spent cartridge cases and provides a reamer as a deburring means for an inner and outer member to debur cartridge cases.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,549, issued Sept. 5, 1989, describes a pipe preparation device to prepare pipes for soldering or abrading and which comprises an internal brush and an external brush for the cleaning of the internal and external surfaces of a pipe prior to soldering or abrading, both brushes being provided in a single, hand driven tool.
It is desirable to provide for a new unique and efficient pipe polishing apparatus and method which overcomes at least some of the deficiencies of prior art pipe polishing apparatuses and which permits the rapid and efficient cleaning of the exterior ends of the pipe, and optionally, the interior of the pipe, particularly by the use of a hand drill in a rapid and efficient manner.